Yankee Clipper eulogizedAssociated Press
SAN FRANCISCO -- His brother's words inside the church and
the crowd's emotional farewell outside perfectly captured the two
sides of Joe DiMaggio -- the quiet, dignified, reclusive man, and
the Joltin' Joe who stirred fans' passions.

Dominic DiMaggio, the last of the three sons of Italian
immigrants who played in the major leagues, spoke little about
baseball in his brief eulogy Thursday and more about his brother's
quest for privacy, his love of children and the one significant
hollow in his life.

Pallbearers carry Joe DiMaggio's casket.

Joe DiMaggio grew up playing on the sandlots of San Francisco,
Dominic told a private gathering at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, and
had everything in a Hall of Fame career, except the right woman to
share his life. He married twice -- in this church in 1939 to
actress Dorothy Arnold, and at San Francisco's City Hall in 1954 to
Marilyn Monroe -- but never found happiness in marriage.

To fill that void, Dominic said, Joe DiMaggio dedicated his life
away from baseball to helping children, privately and publicly,
including the establishment of a children's wing to a hospital in
Hollywood, Fla.

About 80 family members and friends, along with baseball
commissioner Bud Selig and American League president Gene Budig, attended the
funeral Mass for the Yankee Clipper, who died Monday at his Florida
home at the age of 84. The mahogany casket, set before the ornate
marble altar under a golden dome, remained closed.

There were no baseball mementos, nothing to suggest the enormity
of DiMaggio's impact on the game and American culture.

"It was very sensitive, very private," Selig said. "Just a
day I'll remember for a long, long time."

Outside, a small crowd of about 200 came to pay its respects,
and when the hour-long service ended and the hearse drove off to
Holy Cross Cemetery in nearby Colma, there were cries of "Goodbye,
Joe," accompanied by respectful, spontaneous applause.

One of those who came was J.D. Reynolds, son of former New York
Yankees pitcher Allie Reynolds, who flew from his home in Mustang,
Okla. As a child, Reynolds hung out in the Yankee clubhouse, where
his father had a locker two down from DiMaggio's.

"My dad said DiMaggio was the greatest player he had ever
seen," Reynolds said. "My dad said he had a great record because,
when he was pitching, someone would hit one and Joe would run a
mile to catch it."

Flanked by police motorcycles and squad cars, the hearse and
seven limousines bearing mourners pulled up to the church at 10
a.m. on a baseball-perfect, blue-sky day. Six pallbearers,
including DiMaggio's estranged son from his marriage to Arnold,
Joseph Paul DiMaggio Jr., carried the casket covered with white
flowers into the church.

Police barricades surrounded the church, keeping the public and
hundreds of reporters, photographers and TV crews across the street
by the park in Washington Square in this Italian neighborhood where
DiMaggio roamed as a young man. He received his first communion and
was confirmed in Sts. Peter and Paul, whose twin steeples tower
over North Beach.

The Rev. Armand Oliveri, a 79-year-old priest who had known
DiMaggio since the two grew up together, led the funeral Mass,
which included Psalm 23, as well as readings from the Old and New
Testaments.

"It was a beautiful, dignified, very calm atmosphere," Oliveri
said. "The family was not upset, in the sense of (being)
emotional."

Oliveri said he spoke to the mourners of "how Joe had achieved
greatness, but that his real greatness was the way he carried
himself."

The large, beautiful church, dark and solemn despite the light
filtering through its stained-glass windows, has been visited by
President Lyndon Johnson and Vice President Walter Mondale. It also
was the site of funeral services for former San Francisco Mayor
Joseph Alioto.

Church organist Lola Simi and two celebrants sang "Amazing
Grace" and Schubert's "Ave Maria" among five musical works
requested by the DiMaggio family.

"It was very dignified and private, just how they wanted it,"
Simi said.

The funeral procession passed DiMaggio's former home on Beach
Street, where several fans laid flowers, on its way to Holy Cross
Cemetery.

Morris Engelberg, DiMaggio's close friend and attorney, said the
Hall of Famer wanted a private religious service and that his
family was determined to follow his wishes. That meant excluding
people such as Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

In addition to DiMaggio's son, other pallbearers were Roger
Stein and James Hamra, the husbands of DiMaggio's two
granddaughters; Joseph DiMaggio, son of the ballplayer's late
brother, Mike; Joe Nacchio, a friend of DiMaggio's for 59 years;
and Engelberg.